Robbie turns five

Robbie turned five years old yesterday. It was fun reminiscing about his arrival. What a blessing he has been to our family. Robbie is very challenging because he is so doggone smart but not quite old enough to understand everything :-). He often will argue with me informing me, "You're wrong!" or "That was a bad idea." Ha! I get quite peeved but it's also pretty funny in retrospect. He is so sweet and loving at other times, like tonight when I went to put him to bed. He held on to me and didn't want me to leave, saying "Don't go. Stay with me. I'm going to hold onto your hands so you can't leave." I love that he still wants me to sing to him at night. Even when he's really mad, if I ask him for a Robbie hug, he generally gives in. Robbie is very creative and is great at telling stories, building and drawing, and jumping off of furniture. He adores his daddy and loves spending time with him. He also has a lot of fun with Henry and Clara (except when he doesn't). He loves to read books and doesn't love going on errands or eating foods he dislikes. Fortunately, he likes music and also audiobooks like Geronimo Stilton (which Clara introduced him to). He hates being wrong and making mistakes and apologizing, but he's getting better. We talk about how making mistakes is okay (like the morning when I accidentally stuck the plunger into the Vitamix too far and it broke, Robbie repeated back to me what I have told him before, "You make mistakes every day, right, Mom?"). He is great at doing his jobs on his chart (even though he doesn't like to) and has a smile that lights up the world.

 He picked out Lucky Charms for his birthday breakfast. (What is it with Lucky Charms and our kids? There are so many other yummy cereals out there, in my opinion.) It was so cute watching his happy grin when I arrived with the tray.

We drove to one of the splash pads in Charlottesville with our neighbors, the Zopps, during the day. Robbie had a blast running in and out of the water and then onto the playground and then back again. He said that the water running over the mushroom was glass that you had to break to get through. His imagination is so vibrant.

Crepes was the request for dinner that night--it's always nice when the birthday dinner is something everyone likes.

 Heavy, heavy, hang over . . .

 Robbie had some eager onlookers for the opening of the presents.

 He absolutely loved the walkie-talkies and immediately wanted to start playing with them (Clara loved them, too). We could have just stopped there with the presents :-). He is also holding his sweet "bee-noculars" (as he called them), and they wanted to put together the stomp rocket right away as well. Clara gave him some Sour Patch Kids, which were well-received.

Can I just say how glad I am that Michael enjoys decorating cakes? I enjoy baking, but I don't like decorating unless it consists of just putting frosting on and sprinkles. Michael took the cake and the frosting to the office (!) to do it on his lunch break as a surprise for Robbie. He's so great.

Happy, happy birthday, buddy! Five looks really good on you.